Your “First You Get The Money…” Thursday Evening Open Thread

NFL Nuggets:

• One rumour is that the Seahawks will tie Russell Wilson’s next salary contract to the annual percentage increase in the salary cap.
  • There are advantages for both sides:
    • It guarantees Wilson will stay in the upper echelon of QB salaries.
    • It allows the Seahawks stability in knowing how much of the cap their QB will be.
  • The downside is that the Seahawks stick to their traditional bargaining structure & propose a contract that doesn’t stray from what they’ve offered others equally important to the franchise.
  • As ESPN put it,
    • “He has a chance to set a new standard for contract guarantees at a time when that’s a hot-button issue with players. If the Seahawks decide not to sign him and go year-to-year with franchise tags, he could turn out to be Kirk Cousins with a better résumé.”
  • If they don’t get a deal done, Wilson hits free agency in 2020.
    • His Franchise Tag value would be between $30-32 million.

• Things are even more fucked up for (former) AAF players:
  • Most returned to their temporary lodgings to find their belongings packed up & waiting for them, as team-arranged housing was cut off.
    • Deadspin notes a bunch of the Memphis players have been stuck with bills for $2500, likely covering the period from the last time the team covered the bills.
  • Injured players are now on the hook for their own medical costs.
  • Due to the league “suspending operations” and not folding, NFL teams can’t yet negotiate with individual players that might have been on their radar.
    • Well, that’s been resolved.
      • The Chiefs have already signed CB Keith Reaser, formerly of the Orlando Apollos.
        • The Chiefs will give Reaser $100,000 up front in the form of a $50,000 signing bonus, a $25,000 workout bonus and a $25,000 roster bonus.

• Robert Kraft’s attorneys are going the “illegal search” route in their defense applications.
  • Because ESPN put it better than I could,
    • Kraft’s attorneys argued that using the cameras to prosecute misdemeanor crimes violated constitutional privacy protections and prohibitions against unreasonable searches. In addition, a Florida law says police can only make secret recordings when investigating certain serious felonies. Kraft is charged with solicitation, which is not a felony.
  • To back their claim, they submitted a 92-page statement of defence.
    • Which is what you do when you’re a billionaire trying to avoid video of a handy getting onto the internet.

• The clapback against Mike McCarthy’s ESPN interview has begun, and it’s a helluva read.
  • Bleacher Report has a report outlining the dysfunction that McCarthy generated & enabled during his years in Green Bay.
    • One observation is that the hatred between Rodgers & McCarthy goes all the way back to Rodgers’ draft, because McCarthy was the OC in San Francisco & helped choose Alex Smith over him.
      • And that Rodgers has held the grudge ever since.
    • Also that McCarthy felt his system, rather than Rodgers’ ability, was the key to the team’s success:
      • The personnel man says the Packers’ passing offense was essentially “Get open” and that they basically ran the same routes for seven years straight, to the point where division rivals “constantly” called out plays pre-snap and jumped routes.
  • PFT notes that there were reports of McCarthy skipping meetings for “massages”, but some teammates felt that it was Rodgers who started those rumours, to try & hasten the coach’s downfall.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Canadiens at Capitals – 7:00PM | NBCSN (blacked-fucking-out in English Canada)
  • Bruins at Wild – 8:00PM | Sportsnet360
• MLB:
  • Blue Jays at Cleveland – 6:00PM | Sportsnet
• NBA:
  • Bucks at 76ers – 8:00PM | TNT
  • Warriors at Lakers – 10:30PM | TNT / TSN4
• NCAA:
  • NIT Basketball Tournament:
    • Championship – 7:00PM | ESPN
  • College Baseball:
    • Arkansas at Auburn – 7:30PM | ESPNU
• Futbol:
  • Women’s International Friendly Soccer: U.S. vs. Australia – 9:30PM | FS1

Get your HAWT TAEK pencils ready – THE DRAFT IS THREE WEEKS AWAY!